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Saturday, March 04, 2017

Kenya Doctor Strike: 13 weeks down, and a Myhre interlude

After heart-wrenching gut-dropping soul-searching deliberation, we decided to go ahead with our planned Congo-Uganda-Burundi trip starting tomorrow. The chronic never-ending nature of this strike has made it very difficult to plan, and resulted in us falling far behind in our Serge Area Director job. We are physically weary, emotionally exhausted, and in desperate need of a break. Flying a small plane into Eastern Congo for days of intense cross-cultural meeting and vision setting isn't exactly a vacation, but we are moving forward trusting God's strength in our weakness. And trusting the sovereign timing of God's care to push a resolution to the strike. As of yesterday, the intervention of religious leaders (along with the Kenyan Law Society and the Kenyan Human Rights Committee, and the President) offered the first real glimmer of hope for compromise we've seen in a long time. Our visas miraculously came through on Thursday, Scott went to get them in our passports Friday, and we bought tickets last night. Today was another non-stop day of "our brand is crisis" and tomorrow we are off. Some photos I had on my phone from the last couple days below. Pray for our patients to be healed by the mercy of God as we go, and for us to be filled with wisdom and love for others as we listen and serve across three countries in two weeks.

Baby Hope, would you hope with me she would survive? Severe dehydration caused her kidneys to fail, but she may still recover. Pray for her.

The busy Newborn Unit, when you get 4 preems of about a thousand grams being transferred in one day . . and dozens of births per day . . .it gets crowded.

Preem corner, our two best incubators holding four babies who total up to weigh less than many American babies.

Jua Kali--Kenyan for "in the hot sun" which refers to the creative make-do engineering this country excels in. This, my friends, is an oxygen concentrator.

This mom finally went home with her very very premature baby, a triumph that took almost two months. The other moms took up a collection to get her some clothes to go home with, and bus fare. She was an 8th grade student (father was in high school). I love her smile, and resilience. And I love the way God's people are here in this place of need, moms helping each other.

My team. Grace works part-time while in school, but Zachariah is with me almost every day, and has proven himself to be thorough, compassionate, and reliable. I wouldn't have made it through the last two months without them, as things got much busier after December. This week they admitted an ICU-level critical baby without me one day when I had to leave briefly for a passport issue, and they did everything right. That made me so happy.

This brother brought his sister with AIDS back for follow-up as requested today . . since he's in school I saw them on a Saturday. She sadly also has TB, but we are hoping that treatment will extend her life.

One day I had these two admissions in rapid succession: 1120 grams on the left, 4135 on the right. Quite the contrast.

Maternity at Naivasha traditionally requires two patients to share each bed, it is so crowded.

Hoping to post from the road, but if it's not possible, don't forget to pray for us, and for those we leave behind.

Our Mission

who we are

paradox:
1. something that combines contradictory features or qualities.
Life in Africa is full of contradictions - the beauty and pain; the abundance and the poverty; the joy and the sorrow.
Our lives, too...dying that we might live; strong in our weakness; sinners yet saints.
2. a "pair of docs"